There was some good reading on the "experiments in tire physics" thread, but I wanted to report some testing of my own. I was on the skidpad, basically I removed all of my setups and started over. I did the UFGTR first, since it's probably the car I use the most, and made a really great setup for it. Ok, on to a RWD car, better start easy, used the LX4. So I make a "baseline" setup, and take it for a spin on the skidpad. Basically I was heating up the tires evenly, (burnouts, full front wheel lock, etc..) then going around in a circle to see what happens and measure my max sustained G's around the turn. When I noticed something strange. I held the car at about 1.25 G's or so, then pushed on the gas just a little more and the car did a 180 on me. Hmm. Did the same thing again, only this time in 5th gear (somewhere around 2000 rpms) at about 40 mph, held at 1.10 or so G's, then pushed on the throttle again. Once again, around she came. What the heck? I know the car doesnt have enough power at 2000 rpms in 5th to spin the wheels. I did the same test with the same setup, and used about 20 different diff settings, all with identical results. Ok, time to switch cars. Used the XRG non turbo, surely it is low power enough, it barely spins the wheels in 1st!! Did the same basic test, got it near 1.0 G's, put it in 5th, pushed on the gas, around it came. I think this is what makes the RWD cars so tricky to drive. Really I think the tire physics are done quite well. In the FWD cars, they do feel pretty darn good, especially the RB4, it feels great. On dirt too, the tires feel quite good- maybe a little too "slippy"- almost like wet grass than gravel, but the car reacts the way it should. This makes me think that the tire physics are quite close, but it's the weight transfer that is off.
I ended up running a new PB at a few tracks with the LX6 with a new setup. And suprisingly enough, it has 0 front swaybar and about 10 rear swaybar. I found that the front end will not turn as long as the rears have traction until I took the swaybar setting WAY down. Diff settings didnt matter a whole lot either. Now, the setup is a bit twitchy, but I can actually hold the car in a semi-drift if it gets too loose instead of snapping around like usual. Only problem now, the fronts will not heat up. This setup follows most of my standard setup rules in real life, keep the lower control arms slightly above parallel with the ground and run stiff enough springs to keep them that way. My new UFR setup is done the same way, zero front bar, and only about 15 rear but VERY stiff springs. Seems to work for me as I beat my BL1 PB by about 1.5 seconds by the third lap.
Anyhow, try out these experiments for yourselves- I think the weight transfer is what is causing the RWD cars so much grief. Sure, the tire physics arent perfect but I think they are a lot better than most people give them credit for.
Brendan
I ended up running a new PB at a few tracks with the LX6 with a new setup. And suprisingly enough, it has 0 front swaybar and about 10 rear swaybar. I found that the front end will not turn as long as the rears have traction until I took the swaybar setting WAY down. Diff settings didnt matter a whole lot either. Now, the setup is a bit twitchy, but I can actually hold the car in a semi-drift if it gets too loose instead of snapping around like usual. Only problem now, the fronts will not heat up. This setup follows most of my standard setup rules in real life, keep the lower control arms slightly above parallel with the ground and run stiff enough springs to keep them that way. My new UFR setup is done the same way, zero front bar, and only about 15 rear but VERY stiff springs. Seems to work for me as I beat my BL1 PB by about 1.5 seconds by the third lap.
Anyhow, try out these experiments for yourselves- I think the weight transfer is what is causing the RWD cars so much grief. Sure, the tire physics arent perfect but I think they are a lot better than most people give them credit for.
Brendan